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The Boston Herald and the Boston Globe each had exclusive stories last week that sent some warning temblors through Beacon Hill. The Globe reported that a sworn affidavit from an unknown source triggered an Ethics Commission investigation into a potential conflict of interest by Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby. The Herald splashed a piece about(...)

Both Baker, Patrick support initiative

As the year’s end brings a barrage of appeals from nonprofit groups hoping to capitalize on the spirit of holiday giving, the state’s community development corporations are making a pitch for a new tax credit program that enjoys the bipartisan backing of both the outgoing Democratic governor and his Republican successor. The Massachusetts Association of(...)

CLF accuses Patrick of stacking the deck

Groups opposing the construction of a new natural gas pipeline coming into Massachusetts on Tuesday attacked a draft study suggesting the pipeline is needed, with one critic saying the $250,000 report had a major arithmetic error. The final version of the report was scheduled to be released on Tuesday, but the release was delayed. The(...)

Earlier this year, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin told Vox that, for better or worse, the hopes of every advocate for single-payer health care rode on his state’s ambitious health care overhaul. Vermont would either pull off a successful transition to single-payer, and a cascade of states would follow, or it would fail, and cement the(...)

Feds now left to confront the issue

Many American dislike the Affordable Care Act not because it goes too far but because it does not go far enough, as observed in the chart below from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the dark blue. About 24 percent of Americans believe the ACA should be expanded, and by that, many mean a Medicare-for-All single(...)

Draft report forecasts shortfall

A new study commissioned by the Patrick administration has tentatively concluded that Massachusetts and all of New England need to expand the supply of natural gas coming into the region to meet demand. The preliminary report analyzed the demand for gas under eight different scenarios and concluded the state would face a shortfall of between(...)

A Boston Herald editorial today calls on Gov.-elect Charlie Baker to work to eliminate the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts. Baker has been a strong supporter of charters, independently-operated public schools that were first authorized by the state’s 1993 education reform law, and he is likely to try to push in that direction. But(...)

One of the more interesting items in the Boston Globe the last couple days has been a full-page ad from Neighborhood Health Plan. It appears to be one of those year-end, feel-good ads thanking the health plan’s subscribers for their support, but there’s probably a hidden message as well. “At Neighborhood Health Plan, we know that(...)

Could accentuate state budget problem

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The state commission that oversees public employee health insurance coverage will likely need at least $120 million in additional funding this fiscal year, a request that would contribute to ongoing state budget problems. “It’s probably going to be north of $120 million,” Group Insurance Commission (GIC) Executive Director Dolores Mitchell told(...)

No one will ever accuse Sam Sutter, the newly elected mayor of Fall River, of being dumb or blind. Or of lacking ambition. Sutter, the soon-to-be-former Bristol district attorney, saw an opening with the troubles of Mayor Will Flanagan and drove a truck through it straight to City Hall, using his name recognition in this(...)